BHS boys hoops closes out UC Irvine camp with win

IRVINE – A fourth straight weekend away from home marked another weekend of progress for the Burroughs boys basketball team.

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By Anthony GentileSPORTS EDITORagentile@ridgecrestca.com

Ridgecrest Daily Independent - Ridgecrest, CA

By Anthony GentileSPORTS EDITORagentile@ridgecrestca.com

Posted Jul. 2, 2013 at 12:22 PM
Updated Jul 2, 2013 at 12:25 PM

By Anthony GentileSPORTS EDITORagentile@ridgecrestca.com

Posted Jul. 2, 2013 at 12:22 PM
Updated Jul 2, 2013 at 12:25 PM

IRVINE – A fourth straight weekend away from home marked another weekend of progress for the Burroughs boys basketball team. The Burros finished 2-3 at the UC Irvine team camp, and ended the tournament with a short-handed win on Sunday.

“I’m pleased with where we’re going,” head coach Doug Hayes said. “I’m pleased with the progress we’re making and I think we’re on schedule.”

Burroughs beat Citrus Valley (Redlands) in its tournament finale on Sunday despite playing without Calvin Martin. Martin landed on his elbow on Saturday and sat out the Burros’ narrow win over the Blackhawks.

“It was a close game the whole way and in the last 20 seconds it was foul, foul, foul, foul and we did a good job of holding onto the basketball,” Hayes said. “Eventually we got to the free-throw line and made our free throws.”

Jalen Cross and Biggie Hernandez filled in for Martin at power forward in Sunday’s game. Burroughs also changed its strategy to offset the loss of its athletic big man.

“We did a lot better job of penetrating the area we call the rectangle – that high part of the paint near the free-throw line – and when we got there we were able to get a lot more open shots,” Hayes said.

Hayes said that Michael Polman took command of the Citrus Valley game by driving into the paint and making plays. Burroughs’ point guard has also been handling defensive pressure better as the summer progresses.

“People are realizing that they can’t keep him in front of them so they grab and pull and push and hold, and being able to play under that physical nature of the game is really starting to come around for him,” Hayes said.

After splitting its games on Friday, Burroughs lost twice on Saturday. The Burros lost Martin early in the second half of their loss against Jurupa Hills (Fontana). That defeat came after a loss to Valencia (Placentia) to conclude pool play.

“It was alright for awhile and then we started doing some crazy stuff – I didn’t think we played very well,” Hayes said. “We went to bouncing the basketball on the perimeter and we did a lot of standing and watching – things that we’ve been working on getting over. When we do those things, it’s not very pretty.”

During the five-game weekend at UC Irvine, Hayes said that Hernandez, Cross and Alexander Ledford rebounded well. He said that Matthew Polman had a good weekend shooting the ball and Tyron Jones had a solid all-around performance.

Page 2 of 2 - “Tyron really hustled out there and got into passing lanes, created some disruption and made some really good penetrations and drives to the basket,” Hayes said.

Burroughs is currently 9-8 after four weeks of summer play. The Burros return to action locally this weekend in the Cerro Coso tournament, which starts Friday at the Ray McCue Center.

“Everybody is always excited to stay home and play in front of their friends and family,” Hayes said. “That’ll be fun, and everyone is looking forward to being around.”